At the Movies with Fatwayne

The cats in this case are a pride of lions and a solitary cheetah. More specifically, it is about a mother lion named Layla and her young cub named Mara and their struggle to survive on the African savanna and in a separate storyline we get to know a cheetah named Sita and her five newborns.

The lions band together in a group called a pride which affords them protection as well as companionship. On the other hand, cheetahs are solitary creatures which makes a mother cheetah’s job of raising her cubs much more difficult.

There are no graphic scenes of the big cats killing their prey as those are edited to only chases with magnificent close up shots of the animals in full pursuit with soil flying and muscles rippling. Great stuff and suited for viewing by the kids.

The film does illustrate just how difficult survival is in the animal world and how many enemies even fearful felines have. The cubs can even be killed by the males of their species so that their only hope to live lies with their mothers.

Although the story is interesting along with narration from Samuel L. Jackson, it tends to humanize the cats too much by giving them names and humanistic feelings when in fact, they are driven by instinct. There are several sub plots that keep the movie flowing and the scenery is absolutely breathtaking.

This is nature documentary at its finest brought to us from Disneynature. If you like this type of film I can recommend this one to you.

Rated  – G -

Fatwayne’s Rating

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